Repository: UIHistories Project: Commencement - 1925 [PAGE 2]

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HONEST CITIZENSHIP

HEN Paul stood upon M a r s ' hill and said to the people of Athens (referring to the altar "To the I nkno:cn God") "Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you," he had a high privilege that comes rarely to men. For an opportunity to proclaim a great fundamental new truth such as Paul declared comes only once in centuries. At Commencement time, lowever, every speaker is expected to say something new. et nothing can be said in a Commencement address that [is new to the world or perhaps to the majority of those who hear it. Nevertheless, it is true that there is much that is not new to the world at large which is new to each succeeding graduating class. Therefore, a Commencement speaker is justified in saying some things to the young people whose departure is to make a gap in his life, even though what he says may have a little semblance of age and a little flavor of repetition. This is especially true if the Commencement speaker be, as on this occasion, the President of the institution. For the President seldom has the opportunity, for which he constantly yearns, of looking into the faces of the great senior class and exchanging with them some of the confidences that would be pleasing to him and, he hopes, helpful to them. The absence of such opportunities makes doubly welcome that which is presented on Commencement day of saying a few words in a last farewell. Some of you have been educated, at least we hope you have been educated, to be engineers; some to be agriculturists, among whom I trust there are some farmers; some to be business men; while some have sought what we call a general education in the hope that they would be especially prepared for leadership in the general affairs of life. Hut whatever calling you may have had in mind in choosing your particular course of study, there is one held of

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